MCPS Board and Superintendent, Please Wake Up to the Need for Healthier Secondary School Start Times!

Follow the science please

This is important.

Follow the science, figure the rest out.

It's nearly impossible My daughter, an MCPS 10th grader, to get adequate sleep. It's been difficult to witness her exhaustion. The early secondary start times are detrimental to student learning and well being. MCPS must follow the science and adjust start times.

Please have a later start time!! Science has shown again and again the health benefits to teens.

Please prioritize our kids’ physical and mental health. Start middle and high school later. Pediatricians, CDC, the Surgeon General and other health professionals urge following the science on teen sleep needs.

I could not agree more strongly with this petition. This change is long overdue, and it is shameful that it has not happened already, in light of the evidence behind it. I would be happy to have fewer smart boards in the classrooms to pay for it.

Support this time change.

younger students have naturally earlier bed time and wake time. They also need supervision from parents/guardians/care givers. It only makes sense to switch the high school start to time for the elementary start time. My middle schoolers are already struggling to get enough sleep. Their body clocks just do not allow them to fall asleep so early. I dread an even earlier start.

Mother of a tired high schooler, who must wake up at 5:30am to catch the school bus.

I support this initiative.

Bus scheming should not have priority over student health and achievement. We should be able to work this out!

This is so crucial for teen mental health. Please make school policy based on the growing evidence regarding teen sleep needs and not on sports schedules.

Please follow the science on sleep needs for teens.

Switch elementary school start time with high schools. younger kids wake up early naturally!

It would make so much more sense for high school to start later and elementary school to start earlier!

This is long overdue and the extra funding needed will be well worth it. This fits with perfectly with lessons learned from the pandemic. The educational system is already way off-balance for visual/physical learners. Schools prioritize high grade points in limited subjects, with pressure to go to expensive name colleges. Why perpetuate this counter-intuitive extra challenge to kids trying to meet those goals? My daughter is now 25, and parents been asking for years to fix this.

2 years ago Featured

As the parent of two current MCPS HS students, I can attest firsthand how a later HS start time would be extremely beneficial to my students. If the main issue is the bus matrix, why not swap elementary school start times with high school’s?

Please take action to make this change this year. My daughter is so tired all the time. This would make a real difference in her life and enhance brain development and attention at school.

Mom to two always tired high schoolers.